Monday 24 January 2011 07.03 EST
First published on Monday 24 January 2011 07.03 EST

The BBC today confirmed that 360 staff in the corporation's online operation are to lose their jobs as the department's budget is cut by 25% to £103m by 2013.

BBC Online cuts have been in the pipeline since last summer, but come as the corporation gears up for far more sweeping job losses across the organisation in order to meet savings targets imposed following the licence fee deal negotiated with the government in October.

In July last year the BBC Trust approved the cuts following a strategic review of BBC Online, along with further cutbacks in the corporation's web output including scrapping half the corporation's websites.

Management said the job cuts break down across the corporation and only a small number relate to currently vacant positions. Of 360 posts to be cut, 120 are from Future Media & Technology, up to 90 from BBC Vision, up to 39 from Audio & Music, 17 from Children's, 24 from Sport and 70 in journalism from national news and non-news posts on regional news sites.

Outlining its plans today, the BBC said it will meet with commercial rivals twice a year to clarify its online plans, increase links to external sites to generate 22m referrals within three years and will halve the number of top level domains it operates.

The corporation also outlined five editorial priorities for BBC Online and clarified its remit. The BBC aims to meet all these objectives, and make 360 posts redundant, by 2013.

The restructured BBC Online department will consist of 10 products including News, iPlayer, CBeebies and Search. Editorial will be refined, with fewer News blogs, and local sites will be stripped of non-news content. Blast, Switch and h2g2 are among the sites to be ditched.

Other closures will include the standalone websites for the BBC Radio 5 Live 606 phone-in show and 1Xtra, 5 Live Sports Extra, 6 Music and Radio 7 digital stations.

In all, the BBC is pledging to close half of its 400 top level domains – with 180 to be gone ahead of schedule later this year.

In the initial review, the trust heavily criticised the lack of editorial oversight in BBC Online.

Roly Keating, director of BBC archive content, has now been given responsibility for the department's editorial strategy.

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, said the corporation's vast portfolio of sites "means we sometimes fall short of expectation".

"A refocusing on our editorial priorities, a commitment to the highest quality standards and a more streamlined and collegiate way of working will help us transform BBC Online for the future," Thompson added.

"The whole question about what a more mature online market means for the BBC's online position has changed," he said. "Our website has grown organically across the organisation which led to a lot of creativity, but that grew like Topsy. So recognising that the web has changed what really matters most to us is a coherent strategy for the website in itself."